I''ve just watched The Exorcist...

Was Chris having sex with Burke, or was he just a really good friend? Regan seemed to think it was the former.

Did the demon that was possessing Regan smell? I noticed people would often cover the nose, when it came out.

How was the demon able to torture Regan, and not kill her? I mean the spiderwalk, and her head turning all the way around?

Who gave Regan the cross she used to masturbate with?

And finally, what was the story with Father Dyer? Am I the only one who noticed how much he pinged when he was playing the piano?

by Anonymous

reply 140

04/26/2015

I remember the novel described Possessed Ragan as having a really foul odor.

by Anonymous

reply 2

10/30/2010

I would imagine the smell being sulfur/brimstone.

by Anonymous

reply 3

10/30/2010

[quote]And finally, what was the story with Father Dyer? Am I the only one who noticed how much he pinged when he was playing the piano?

He was played by an actual priest.

William Friedkin, being a psychopath, tortured him on the set.

by Anonymous

reply 4

10/30/2010

Could have been the green puke. There was tons of it.

Or menstrual blood.

Or urine.

Wow. There was a lot of body fluids in that movie.

by Anonymous

reply 5

10/30/2010

I highly recommend the book The Rite by Matt Baglio.

Oh! Looks like they've made a movie based on it.

by Anonymous

reply 6

10/30/2010

actually, the movie doesn't look that good.

by Anonymous

reply 7

10/30/2010

I read the book, which explained EVERYTHING.%0D %0D Burke was not boinking Chris. "Captain Howdy" told little Reagan that Burke and her mother was romantically involved. Reagan asks Chris about it and Chris laughs and tells her no. She asks Reagan where she got such a notion and Reagan says "Well, I heard...I don't know. I just thought."%0D %0D The demon had horrible foul breath, which is why people were backing off from it. %0D %0D I suppose that while possessed by the demon Reagan attained some of the demon's supernatural capabilities, like enormous strength and the ability to spiderwalk and head rotation. I guess that's why it didn't kill her.%0D %0D The demon provided the cross that Reagan masturbated with. Don't ask me to explain that, but he was the one alright.%0D %0D In the book Father Dyer is depicted as a very friendly, good-natured priest with a good sense of humor. Everybody likes him. But nowhere is it suggested that he might be gay.

by Anonymous

reply 8

10/30/2010

I can't remember for sure, but I think there was some speculation that the demon was making the priests see things that weren't really happening. Illusions, if you will.

[italic]And finally, what was the story with Father Dyer? Am I the only one who noticed how much he pinged when he was playing the piano?[/italic]

The man who played him is a real priest. As you know, most priests are gay.

by Anonymous

reply 9

10/30/2010

The Astronaut was hot.%0D %0D Blatty hated the head spinning and advised Friedkin not to put it in.

by Anonymous

reply 10

10/30/2010

[quote]As you know, most priests are gay.

Not anymore.

by Anonymous

reply 11

10/30/2010

[quote]Did the demon that was possessing Regan smell? I noticed people would often cover the nose, when it came out. Thank you! That was my first role!

by Anonymous

reply 12

10/30/2010

YOUR MOTHER SEWS SOCKS THAT SMELL!

by Anonymous

reply 13

10/30/2010

The german housekeeper guy or wife placed the crucifix in Regan's bed while she was sleeping. cr=hris finds it and removes it, then it reappears for the bloody scene. was this just in the book (about the housekeeper?)?

by Anonymous

reply 14

10/30/2010

"The german housekeeper guy or wife placed the crucifix in Regan's bed while she was sleeping. cr=hris finds it and removes it, then it reappears for the bloody scene. was this just in the book (about the housekeeper?)?"%0D %0D In the book Chris asked everyone in the house (Sharon, Karl, Willie) if they put the crucifix there. They all truthfully deny it. Chris becomes hysterical (she becomes hysterical a LOT) and starts shrieking "That fucking cross didn't just walk up there, damn you! One of you is lying!" Then she starts sobbing and apologizing. From the book, it's evident that it was the demon's doing that the cross got there. Maybe Reagan shoplifted it from somewhere; who knows? The demon did a lot of things, including the church desecrations that were strangely occuring at the same time Reagan was behaving more an more bizarrely.

by Anonymous

reply 15

10/30/2010

I grew up in Texas and IIRC, the cross-masturbation scene was edited out of the prints of the film sent to theatres in Texas. (Someone feel free to correct me if that's not true.)

by Anonymous

reply 16

10/30/2010

Well, doing the spider walk is not that surprising or deadly of a feat, since Friedkin found an actual teenage gymnast who was Blair's stunt double for the scene. The head spin is another story.

I've always regretted the head spin too--it looks very fake in the movie, and did even at the time the movie was first released.

Here's my bog question: why did Pazuzu call itself "Captain Howdy" on the Ouija board? And why did it turn up in Georgetown torturing a movie star's daughter after being released in Iraq?

by Anonymous

reply 17

10/30/2010

"Here's my bog question: why did Pazuzu call itself "Captain Howdy" on the Ouija board? And why did it turn up in Georgetown torturing a movie star's daughter after being released in Iraq?"%0D %0D This is just speculation on my part, but here goes:%0D %0D The demon must have told Regan his name was "Captain Howdy" to gain her trust and make it seem like he was friendly. You have to admit, it sounds a lot cuter than "Pazuzu."%0D Later, Regan wails about Howdy's betrayal and his torture of her: "I don't know why he does it to me. He was always my friend before!"%0D %0D As for the demon showing up in Georgetown and possessing a movie star's daughter...well, why not? He could have gone anywhere I imagine. Georgetown and a movie star's daughter did just as well as anything else. Chris MacNeil was an atheist (she still is at the end of the novel, but says she could believe in the Devil). Maybe that had something to do with it. Who knows? %0D %0D

by Anonymous

reply 18

11/02/2010

We go where we want. We smell like your souls. Yes, the whore was fucking the asshole. We kill when we want and spare for pain. The bitch brought the crucifix. We found a use for it. The priests were ours.

by Anonymous

reply 19

11/02/2010

Did anyone get the new Blu-ray set?

My god, that thing is worth every penny! All the never-before-scene on set behind-the-scenes footage! Absolutely magnificent!

by Anonymous

reply 20

11/02/2010

Haven't read the book in years but it was my impression that the woman housekeeper placed the crucifix in the room.

The author was a friend of Shirley MacLaine, thus the character being a star.

by Anonymous

reply 21

11/02/2010

The actor who played Father Dyer is the Reverend William O%E2%80%99Malley and he is a drama teacher at Fordham. He is gay and can sometimes be found behind the piano at the few piano bars that still exist in NYC.

He screens The Exorcist every year in one of the dorms at Fordham and then hosts a Q&A session.

by Anonymous

reply 23

11/02/2010

[quote]Did anyone get the new Blu-ray set?%0D %0D My god, that thing is worth every penny! All the never-before-scene on set behind-the-scenes footage! Absolutely magnificent!%0D %0D %0D Thanks R20! You sold me. Will have to get that one along with the blu ray SOUND OF MUSIC. Now how's that for a double bill?

by Anonymous

reply 24

11/02/2010

I knew one of the priest that part of the exorcism. Great guy who died not long after the movie was released.

by Anonymous

reply 26

11/03/2010

Question about the extras on the blu ray--%0D any footage of patrons who saw this when it first opened and their reactions? I have seen some clips on youtube. It would be fun to have these on the blu ray.

by Anonymous

reply 27

11/03/2010

Friedkin doesn't know how to direct (shooting off guns to get reactions, etc.). Luckily, the actors were all pros and worked around him. The special f/x did the rest.%0D %0D His only other good work was "The Boys In The Band", and that's because they just did the play on a soundstage.%0D %0D "Cruising" is lurid fun, though. Bad acting and a seriously creepy vibe.

by Anonymous

reply 28

11/03/2010

[italic]any footage of patrons who saw this when it first opened and their reactions?[/italic] Unfortunately, no.

by Anonymous

reply 29

11/03/2010

Was Chris having sex with Burke, or was he just a really good friend? Regan seemed to think it was the former.

- what is the evidence either that they were or that Regan thought so?

Did the demon that was possessing Regan smell? I noticed people would often cover the nose, when it came out.

- uh, yeah. As one would expect from something that violently emits copious amounts of vomit from a 12 year old's body.

How was the demon able to torture Regan, and not kill her? I mean the spiderwalk, and her head turning all the way around?

- you are applying rules of nature to a supernatural story.

Who gave Regan the cross she used to masturbate with?

- the servants.

And finally, what was the story with Father Dyer? Am I the only one who noticed how much he pinged when he was playing the piano?

- he's a Roman Catholic priest, he's supposed to ping.

by Anonymous

reply 30

11/03/2010

I saw it when I was thirteen. I went with my mother! (She was extremely cool and didn't believe in censoring my reading or viewing.)

As I recall, the part that bothered me most was the spinal tap. Couldn't they have given her a fucking local before they did it? They're always doing that to people on "House" too.

The scariest thing in the movie is Mercedes McCambridge's voice.

by Anonymous

reply 31

11/03/2010

I was too young to see it when it first came out, but I saw it about 5 years later in re-release. It was a movie theater on Long Island and a campful of NYC teens were taken to it by their camp counselors. It was my first experience with an African American movie audience.

by Anonymous

reply 33

11/03/2010

They say in the documentary that all the people who fainted, fainted during the scene in the hospital, not what took place during the exorcism.

by Anonymous

reply 34

11/03/2010

I thought it was pretty clear that Burke was the mother's GAY friend. I mean that was clear to me as a 10-year-old when I first saw it. How did everyone else miss it?!

wow; I was also 13 and my mom took me. She had read the book but had no idea the movie would be so terrifying to me or so intense. Agree that McCambridge's voice coming out of Linda Blair was the most disturbing part of the movie to me, both then and now.

by Anonymous

reply 37

11/03/2010

"Who gave Regan the cross she used to masturbate with?%0D %0D - the servants"%0D %0D There's nothing in the book that even remotely suggests that the servants gave Regan the cross. Everything in the book points to the cross as something supplied by the machinations of the demon.%0D %0D The demon had foul breath, which is why people keep backing away from Regan. That's explained in the book; when she's being hypnotized all of a sudden her breath in explicably turns foul.%0D %0D Regan thought Burke and her mother might be an "item" because her Captain Howdy told her that during one of their Ouija board sessions. In the book Regan asks Chris if she is going to marry Mr. Burke. Chris explodes into laughter and tells her no, they're just friends. %0D %0D How many times does this stuff need to be explained? Read the BOOK. It tells just about everything you'd want to know.

by Anonymous

reply 38

11/03/2010

Wish you would have posted this earlier. I met Linda Blair this weekend and would have asked her. My friend got this and the Blu-ray signed by her.

by Anonymous

reply 39

11/03/2010

I think it didn't matter if Burke seemed gay or not, Regan is alienated from her father and sees Burke as a threat and potential replacement as a father.

I seem to remember from the book that Burke could be physically attractive which would explain Regan's confusion about him more. Friedkin's choosing a physically unattractive, decrepit looking actor may have been his way to dilute that feeling.

by Anonymous

reply 40

11/03/2010

[quote]The scariest thing in the movie is Mercedes McCambridge's voice.

I disagree. It sounds like she is possessed by a "Mame"-era Lucille Ball.

by Anonymous

reply 41

11/03/2010

In the Blu-ray documentary, they FINALLY prove that two spiderwalk scenes were filmed, but don't really explain why. Regan with the serpent tongue is marked as an "outtake", while the blood version is marked as the original. Where was the serpent tongue version going to fit then? I don't remember blood gushing out of Regan's mouth in the book. Odd.

by Anonymous

reply 42

11/03/2010

Could the "Read the book!" troll give it a friggen rest already?

If answering the questions annoys you so much, just don't answer them.

by Anonymous

reply 43

11/03/2010

Why is "cunt" used as a gerund in this movie?

by Anonymous

reply 44

11/03/2010

WoW.. I was 62 when my mother also took me to see it. Scared the diaper right off me!!!

by Anonymous

reply 45

11/03/2010

Lucy wanted the role of Chris McNeil very badly and had several reads with Friedkin, in the end apparantly Lucy's agent wouldn't back down on her fee. I recall at the time her being on David Frost saying that she regretted not taking the role. Considering Burstyn got an Oscar nomination for the part and should HAVE won, there's no telling if Lucy had taken the role if this might have been the long awaited Oscar

by Anonymous

reply 46

11/04/2010

Lucille Ball was NEVER seriously considered for Chris McNeill. EVER.

The frontrunners were Shirley MacLaine - who turned it down after doing "The Possession Of Joel Delaney" - and Audrey Hepburn, who would only do it if it filmed in Rome. That was it. Lucy was WAY too old for that part.

Burke Dennings wasn't gay. In the book he was a real lech who wanted Chris but wouldn't force himself on her. A lot of subplots are truncated in the film though it is very faithful.

The demon was not "released" in Iraq; it's always been able to move around. It is however present near its ancestral grounds at all times, which is why Fr. Merrin (who has faced it before) sees and senses it there. But it is a demon, and not subject to conventional laws, and so it is also in Georgetown, getting to know Regan via Ouija.

Re: the spiderwalk, if Friedkin says the blood-gushing take is the original he is lying, but he has a tendency to do that. Long before "The Version You've Never Seen" with the lame re-cut spiderwalk scene with blood gushing and the wailing, the Mark Kermode "Fear of God" documentary showed the original scene which is simply Regan spiderwalking down the steps and chasing Sharon and Chris around the house w/forked tongue. No blood, no wailing, no sharp cut to black.

Billy Friedkin is very talented, if a total asshole. As of "Bug" he's finally making good films again after many years of utter crap ("Jade," etc). But when it comes to his own work, he's also brutally honest, if sometimes too much so - at one point pre-"Bug" he said on record of much of his post-'75 output, "those films just weren't any good" and that he was past it. But "Sorcerer," "To Live & Die In L.A.," even "Cruising" and "The Brink's Job" are all solid or impressive films that failed to find an audience.

by Anonymous

reply 47

11/04/2010

So is "The Exorcist" still considered scary today or now seen as pretty tame stuff compared to what we've experienced in movies since? Is what was terrifying in 1973 still terrifying in 2010?

by Anonymous

reply 48

11/04/2010

R48, I've never been a fan of horror films because they are so ridiculously fake - never mind the acting...however, I first saw the Exorcist about 10-12 years ago when I was in my 20's.

I slept with the light on that night - seriously.

by Anonymous

reply 49

11/04/2010

I've watched every horror film known to man. Nothing bothers me. However, like the other poster, when I first saw "The Exorcist" at the age of 14/15 years old, I sat frozen. It stayed with me for weeks! I think being raised around a bunch of Catholics helped do the trick!

by Anonymous

reply 50

11/04/2010

That spider walk scene creeped me out. Didn't they add that for the re-release?

by Anonymous

reply 51

11/04/2010

Yes.

by Anonymous

reply 52

11/04/2010

Ooh, Audrey Hepburn as the mom woulda been good: very emotional and a great screamer. And filmed in Rome- the possibilities!

by Anonymous

reply 53

11/04/2010

The spider-walk addition was ridiculous.

by Anonymous

reply 54

11/04/2010

I've never found the Exorcist very scary at all.

But I'm not catholic and wasn't raised in a household of angels and demon where the devil is real, so I imagine that's the reason.

I've always approached it from an anthropological viewpoint.

by Anonymous

reply 55

11/04/2010

I don't eat pea soup, but I still found it disgusting spewing out of a 12 year-old's mouth.

by Anonymous

reply 56

11/04/2010

"Jesus Christ! Do you have to take an illiteracy test to get that job!"

by Anonymous

reply 57

11/04/2010

It should have been Donna Mills and Pamelyn Ferdin.

by Anonymous

reply 58

11/06/2010

For those who've read the book, I have one question: is it ever made clear if the demon possessing Regan is Satan himself or one of Satan's underlings (so to speak)? I ask because in many descriptions of the film I've seen over the years, the plot is typically described as "film about a 12-year-old girl possessed by Satan," yet that's not the name used for the demon in the film. Is it Satan himself or something else? Does the book address this question?%0D %0D TIA.

by Anonymous

reply 59

11/07/2010

There is only one.

by Anonymous

reply 60

11/07/2010

I'm surprised Lucille Ball was even remotely interested in the role of the mother since she decried all films in the 70s that weren't wholesome enough for the whole family - hence the MAME debacle. She was, however, dying to do DRIVING MISS DAISY.

by Anonymous

reply 61

11/07/2010

Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda were also considered for the Ellen Burstyn role.%0D %0D Could you imagine Streisand in the picture?

by Anonymous

reply 62

11/07/2010

[quote]Could you imagine Streisand in the picture?

Pazuzu? That's a Demon named Pazuzu?

by Anonymous

reply 63

11/07/2010

Green Pea Soup Courtesy Of Miss Streisand's Pantry.

by Anonymous

reply 64

11/07/2010

LOL R64!

by Anonymous

reply 65

11/07/2010

"The bitch brought the crucifix. We found a use for it."

LOL

by Anonymous

reply 66

11/07/2010

.

by Anonymous

reply 67

11/23/2010

Bitch, I tell Satan what to do.

by Anonymous

reply 68

11/23/2010

If your name were Pazzuzu, you'd be a little cranky, too.

by Anonymous

reply 69

11/23/2010

bump

by Anonymous

reply 70

11/25/2010

"I'm surprised Lucille Ball was even remotely interested in the role of the mother since she decried all films in the 70s that weren't wholesome enough for the whole family - hence the MAME debacle."%0D %0D She WASN'T "even remotely interested in the role of the mother!" To start with, she was much too old for the part. And more importantly, Lucille Ball would rather have died than been in a movie like "The Exorcist."%0D %0D In "Ball of Fire" a very good biography of her by Stefan Kanfer there's an incident where she's at a private screening of Woody Allen's "Everything You Want To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask." This is her reaction:%0D %0D "Am I seeing a man making love to a SHEEP? Am I seeing a man who is married with children wearing a GOWN? Am I seeing a BREAST appearing over the horizon? Has civilization come to an end? Take this picture off! Now! Immediately! This is filth!"%0D %0D Does that sound like somebody who would want to be in a movie where a 12 year old girl vomits all over a priest, jams a crucifix into her vagina, shoves her mother's face into her bloody crotch, and screams "your mother sucks cocks in hell?"

by Anonymous

reply 71

11/25/2010

R71, J. Randy Taraborell claims in his Sinatra biography that Sammy Davis Jr. once rented out a movie theatre for a private showing of "Deep Throat" for his celebrity friends, including Lucy. Supposedly Lucy said afterwards, "I didn't know a woman could open her mouth so wide. To me, that was the big surprise." It's on page 483 in case anyone thinks I'm pulling it out of my ass. So maybe taking a role in something like 'The Exorcist' wouldn't have been that far-fetched for Lucy.

by Anonymous

reply 72

11/25/2010

Pazuzu! Paa-zuuu-zuuu!

by Anonymous

reply 73

11/25/2010

[quote]It's on page 483 in case anyone thinks I'm pulling it out of my ass.

It might be in the book but it's bullshit. she wouldn't even let Lucie and Desi watch James Bond movies because they were too adult and they were teenagers at the time. And she had her own screening room, she could have screened it if she wanted and not have to go to a celebrity viewing.

by Anonymous

reply 74

11/25/2010

R72 = a very lame, bullshitting troll

by Anonymous

reply 75

11/25/2010

When I saw the spider walk scene I thought it was stupid. A lot of younger people think that's the coolest thing about the movie.

In the book she doesn't do a spider walk so much as bend her body into an extreme bow so that her head is right in front of her feet. Then she licked Sharon's ankle and followed her around the house while in that position. Kind of skittering along, like a spider.

For the person who asked if it's still considered scary today: I hear that when it was re-released in movie theaters (about 10 years ago?), people were laughing their heads off. So no, the young'uns don't find it so scary. Scared the absolute crap out of me first time I saw it and that was the edited TV version.

by Anonymous

reply 76

11/25/2010

I'm a horror movie addict, totally jaded, nothing scares me. I've seen The Exorcist at least 10 times on video. However, when I saw the re-release in 2000 I was seriously caught off guard by the remixing of the sound. Remember that scene where the young priest is in his dark little chamber listening to the tapes of the demon talking? Well just as the demon is getting creepier and creepier the phone rings. Those damn editors isolated the sound of the phone ringing to one speaker. A speaker that sat directly behind me. When that phone rang I jumped out of my skin and screamed like a girl. Everyone laughed at me. I wanted to die.

by Anonymous

reply 77

11/25/2010

Lame yourself, R75. Are you pissed off that I exposed your precious Lucy as less than a saint?

And trolldar me all you want--I couldn't care less.

by Anonymous

reply 78

11/26/2010

[quote]Scared the absolute crap out of me first time I saw it and that was the edited TV version.%0D %0D Same here, R76. I only saw the edited version on TV when CBS first broadcast the film back in the '80s and that was more than enough for me.%0D %0D By the way, does anyone happen to know the answer to the question I posted at R59? I know they call the demon Pizzazu (or something like that) in the film but is that just another name for Satan himself or is this some other kind of demon? Does the book make this distinction clear? Thanks.

by Anonymous

reply 79

11/26/2010

I don't recall that being addressed in the book other than what father Karras says to the younger priest, that there is only one demon, not many.

by Anonymous

reply 80

11/26/2010

When The Exorcist was released, I was in college. A bunch of us dropped acid and went to see it. I just laughed all the way through.

by Anonymous

reply 81

11/26/2010

How much was Chris MacNeil paying Sharon (and the German house-keeping couple, too) to keep her hanging around the house, being her personal assistant or whatever, after Regan turned into a psychotic, violent demon-creature? Regan is going around masturbating with crucifixes and snapping men's heads around 180 degree, and still Sharon goes up into her room and finds the "Help Me" message scrawled on her stomach?

by Anonymous

reply 82

03/03/2012

I forgot about Sharon...

Were Chris and Sharon supposed to be a lesbian item? WTF was Sharon there anyway?

by Anonymous

reply 83

03/03/2012

Sharon was her PA.

by Anonymous

reply 84

03/03/2012

I heard that the dealbreaker for Lucy playing Chris was her insistence that Vivian Vance and Gale Gordon play Karl and Willi.

Too bad, really.

by Anonymous

reply 85

03/03/2012

So did Pazazu only enter into Regan after the ouiji board?

I have a few questions too.

Do you think the materials and objects used for the desecration of the Virgin Mary statue in the church looked a bit like the craft projects that Regan was doing in the basement? And that the still-wet one that Regan shows Chris is weirdly reminiscent of how the Pazazu statue looked in Iraq?

When the clock suddenly stopped in the office, the hair on my arms stood straight up. Anyone else think this was a very frightening part?

They called it a spinal tap, but that isn't what a spinal tap looks like. She'd be bent over so the MD could get the needle between her vertebrae. So what was this? A primitive CT scan? A nuclear medicine scan?

What's up with the clearly Greek Father Karras being a Roman Catholic instead of Greek Orthodox? Is that how it was in the book? It's not very typical, thought there are a small minority of Greek Catholics in Greece. But making him Italian would have worked just as well, and made no difference in the scenes with his mother. I thought they were Italian when I was a kid, actually.

The nearly subliminal flash of a demonic face that occurs when Karras's mother descends the subway, is it just to spook us or is it supposed to be the face of Pazazu?

Why did the male German housekeeper insist on leaving the house to get the rat poison, even though the female German housekeeper told him it was closed and yelled it at him? Was he terrified of the house and wanted to get out?

Did Burt know something about the male German housekeeper that no one else did? He mentioned a nazi concentration camp and the German flipped.

by Anonymous

reply 86

03/04/2012

Sharon was Chris' personal assistant in THE EXORCIST but seemed to be Regan's guardian in EXORCIST 2: THE HERETIC.

Elements of THE EXORCIST's story apparently were inspired by incidents occurring in Tokyo in the 1960's involving Sachi Parker, Shirley MacLaine's daughter. Not possession, probably, but enough to cause MacLaine to go on a course of "spiritual investigation."

by Anonymous

reply 87

03/04/2012

R86, in the novel, Karl's character is a bit more fleshed out. If I remember correctly, Lt. Kinderman keeps an eye on him as somewhat of a prime suspect in Burke's murder, as Burke and Karl did not get along. Karl also acts somewhat strangely and suspiciously, leaving the house at odd hours and lying about his whereabouts or giving vague answers.

But the explanation for all of this secrecy is that Karl and Willie have a drug-addicted daughter that Willie believes is long-dead, but is actually alive and slumming it up in some drug-den where Karl visits her and gives her money.

by Anonymous

reply 88

03/04/2012

In 1974, I was hit by a carwhile crossing the street on my way to see this movie. The driver--a priest.

by Anonymous

reply 89

03/04/2012

[quote] Could you imagine Streisand in the picture?

Pazuzu, wait!

by Anonymous

reply 90

03/04/2012

Wasn't Glenda Jackson considered. She had a very similar look to Burstyn at the time but she did a crappy American accent.

by Anonymous

reply 91

03/04/2012

That movie terrified me when it came out. There were several eerie circumstances during filming. I've read several books based on actual exorcisms and I'm convinced there are demons. Haven't watched the film since it's release.

by Anonymous

reply 92

03/04/2012

This movie scared the hell out of my atheist ass when I was in high school! I watched it on TV too, so they didn't even show the really gross parts.

I'm a bit of a horror movie junkie, and while the horror flicks today are a lot gorier and brutal, they're NOT scarier.

by Anonymous

reply 93

03/04/2012

[quote] Could you imagine Streisand in the picture?

Pea Soup, demons who spit pea soup

Are the nastiest demons in the world!

by Anonymous

reply 94

03/04/2012

I was about 12 when this movie came out. It was a big deal in Chicago. There were very long lines at the theater to see it and I remember it made the evening news. There were reports of people fainting and having panic attacks while watching it. My mom read the book then forbade me to read it. So the first thing I did was get the book from one of my friends and read it on the sly. It was scary enough. Years later, when in high school, I had the opportunity to finally see the movie with friends, the primary memory I have is riding in the back seat of a friend's car with my other tomboy tough friend huddled in the corner praying the Our Father all the way home. She was scared shitless. She came from a Catholic family and I never saw her ever be vunerable till then. The movie was good but I thought the book was better.

by Anonymous

reply 95

03/04/2012

Young people are too desensitized to be scared of anything today. But, if you were a young teen in 1973 watching The Exorcist for the very first time on the big screen, you would have been scared to death.

I had the lights on for 2 weeks after watching it.

by Anonymous

reply 96

03/04/2012

The 60's and 70's had excellent, chilling horror films (Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, TCM). Once again, I blame the awful cheesy 80's for ruining yet another good thing, what with their schlocky gorefests that has morphed into the torture-porn of today (Saw, Hostel, etc.).

For what its worth though, even young people today seem to find the Exorcist scary. At least my nephews and nieces find it terrifying.

by Anonymous

reply 97

03/04/2012

It was the first movie I remember long lines for.

by Anonymous

reply 98

03/04/2012

My mother sucks cocks in Hell!

by Anonymous

reply 99

03/04/2012

Demmi, why ju do dis to me Demmi, why?

by Anonymous

reply 100

03/04/2012

I wonder how many of those people smiling in R98's photo, left the theatre smiling after watching the film.

by Anonymous

reply 101

03/04/2012

The first time I watched this was when they aired the edited version on network television. I was watching it with a friend from school at his house (we were seniors) and we were alone. Anyway, we wound up making out and having sex on the couch while the movie played. So for me, I have fond, erotic memories attached to the film.

by Anonymous

reply 102

03/04/2012

What R97 said.

Still the scariest movie to date.

The only one coming close being "The Shinning."

by Anonymous

reply 103

03/04/2012

You know what I meant. ;)

by Anonymous

reply 104

03/04/2012

What does TCM stand for, r97?

by Anonymous

reply 105

03/04/2012

Do you know what your cunting daughter did?!

by Anonymous

reply 106

03/04/2012

TCM = Texas Chainsaw Massacre

For me, the scariest part of The Exorcist will always be that white demon face.

It was based off of some Japanese mask. Anyone have a link?

by Anonymous

reply 107

03/04/2012

Isn't the exact quote "Do you know what she did? Your cunting daughter?" That's more effective.

by Anonymous

reply 108

03/04/2012

Cunting is a real word?

by Anonymous

reply 109

03/04/2012

Oh My God, when this film came there would be lines of ambulances outside of movie theaters. Seriously. Part of the terror were the subliminal scenes of demons making horrible faces for just a second or two. Freak out!

Now I view the film as a comedy.

by Anonymous

reply 110

03/04/2012

More questions:

Was Chris supposed to be an A list actress? Or, a hard working A- or B+?

I think Georgetown was a location shoot, was that townhouse a rental or was it owned by Burt or the two Germans?

Didn't you love the coffee cups she served the detective coffee in?

What was the movie she was filming supposed to be about?

Was her ex husband supposed to be in the movie business too?

by Anonymous

reply 111

03/04/2012

What was the meaning of the scene where Max Von Sydow's character went out to the desert in Iraq and stood across from that big gargoyle thing and just stared at it because the next scene is where Ellen Burstyn hears something up in the attic, was that the devil coming into the house?

by Anonymous

reply 112

03/04/2012

Pazuzu's possession of Regan in Georgetown wasn't the first time it and Merrin rumbled; they have a shared history.

That's why the opening Iraq archological dig scene is significant. When the small idol of Pazuzu is unearthed in Iraq, it's his calling card to Merrin saying "We're having a rematch."

Recall during the opening scenes when, with the sun setting, Merrin and the statue of Pazuzu are facing each other. They're in thier respective corners, to use a boxing analogy, and the bell for round one sounds in the attic of the Georgetown home. Remember the mysterious thumps from the attic?

by Anonymous

reply 113

03/04/2012

In the book wasn't the movie Chris was starring in a musical version of MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON or did I just imagine that? In the movie she's playing a political activist of some sort. I'd say that Chris McNeil is an A List actress. Why else would they have her in a Georgetown townhouse? Unless she has her own personal fortune.

by Anonymous

reply 114

03/04/2012

The house in Georgetown is real, but it does not reach the steps. That was a facade built for the film.

by Anonymous

reply 115

03/04/2012

forgot to add- I rarely watch horror films because so few are well done, but, although it's now dated, "The Exorcist" scared the bejeebies out of me and still does.

I think because the setting and mood are so "modern" yet, running amok are these horrific events. For example, the scenes of Regan being medically examined by all the latest in medical technology cannot prevent what's about to happen.

That really touches a scary nerve and reinforces how, simultaneously setting forth the "ancient" and "modern" can be, well, hell.

by Anonymous

reply 116

03/04/2012

R113 (Della), clear and concise, thanks for that. I've always been fascinated by the opening scenes with Max Von Sydow, the dig, the idol and the face off moment in desert with Pazuzu.

by Anonymous

reply 117

03/04/2012

Why is that Iraqi cunt laughing when her horses nearly run Merrin over?

by Anonymous

reply 118

03/04/2012

In the book, it was Karl who put the crucifix under Reagan's pillow (he's trying to care for her since his own daughter's so fucked up.)

The house in Georgetown is a rental the studio got for Chris.

The paint on the statue desecration is the same paint from Reagan's art project. While visiting the house, Kinderman scrapes paint off of the bird figure with his thumbnail, which he then has analyzed in a lab and finds out it's a match.

The medical procedures Reagan goes through were already outdated before the start of filming, but Friedkin kept them, rather than using newer ones, because they were visually more interesting ... and more terrifying.

It's since been revealed that most of that "people fainting in the theater" stuff was just PR and, in fact, it was PR people who'd arrange for ambulances to be waiting outside the theater.

The "There is only one" line (which was a pretty funny quote who whoever posted it a few pages ago) is in the scene when Merrin and Karas are just about to start the exorcism. Karas says something like: "So far, there seem to be three manifestations of different personalities ..." And Merrin cuts him off and says: "There is only one." It's an arresting line because it shows that even as he's about to begin the exorcism, Karas still doesn't believe that Reagan in possessed, that it's all just mental problems.

I was OBSESSED with this movie when it opened. I saw it 17 times in first run (I was 13 and had to beg older family members to take me because it was R rated.)

It didn't see it again until I was in my 30's ... and I have to say it's just so laughable now. Unbelievably silly and not scary in the slightest. I mean, you're a demon, one of Satan's hellish minion, and the worst thing you can think to do is make a 13 year old masturbate?

In the book, there is a scene with Merrin and Karas on the steps outside of Reagan's room and Karas is trying to understand why a demon would possess someone. Merrin says the point is to make people despair. It's not much of a reason, but it least it's something. Blatty wrote that scene into the first draft of his screenplay, but Friedkin hated it and cut it out. He said it stopped to propulsion of the story. Which is probably true. People were only going to that movie for the roller coaster ride aspect of it. But when you watch the movie now, without all that hype (or being a 13 year old in the process of losing his Catholicism) it's such a corny film.

I will say that Friedkin's slow but relentless build is so much better than the gore-soaked horror movies being made now. "Exorcist 2" is truly one of the loopiest movies ever made. And, except for the preposterous ending, there are some genuinely scary moments in "Exorcist 3."

The scariest movie of all time remains the original "The Omen."

by Anonymous

reply 119

03/04/2012

This article is about the Assyro-Babylonian god Pazuzu. For other uses, see Pazuzu (disambiguation). Fertile Crescent myth series

Assyrian demon Pazuzu, first millennium BC, Louvre Museum. In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu (sometimes Fazuzu or Pazuza) was the king of the demons of the wind, and son of the god Hanbi. He also represented the southwestern wind, the bearer of storms and drought. Contents Â [hide]Â 1 Iconography 2 Mythology 3 In modern culture 4 References 5 External links [edit]Iconography

Pazuzu is often depicted as a combination of diverse animal and human parts. He has the body of a man, the head of a lion or dog, eagle-like taloned feet, two pairs of wings, a scorpion's tail, and a serpentine penis. He is often depicted with his right hand pointing upward. [edit]Mythology

Pazuzu is the demon of the southwest wind known for bringing famine during dry seasons, and locusts during rainy seasons. Pazuzu was said to be invoked in amulets which combat the powers of his wife,[1] the malicious goddess Lamashtu, who was believed to cause harm to mother and child during childbirth. Although Pazuzu is, himself, an evil spirit, he drives away other evil spirits, thus protecting humans against plagues and misfortunes. Wilfred Lambert (1968) identified a fibula with a Pazuzu head at Megiddo [2] and also a Sumerian-Akkadian invocation.[3] [edit]In modern culture

Having read the novel so many years ago I may be wrong in my belief, but I think that it was mentioned somewhere in the book that the excavation in Iraq is on the exact opposite side of the earth as the house in Georgetown. That is where the demon traveled after being unearthed once more by Merrin's people.

Has anyone else heard of this explanation?

by Anonymous

reply 123

03/05/2012

That's an intriguing idea R123.

by Anonymous

reply 124

03/05/2012

I attended Georgetown in the late 70s, and have seen the movie dozens of times. It used to be shown every year by the program board as well as at every Freshman Orientation for years. Seeing the movie has become part of every Hoya's college experience -- we cheered for the extras who were faculty/Jesuits as well as for courtyards and building in the neighborhood.

Running the Exorcist Stairs was a regular workout for the crew team, and they traying the Stairs after a major snowfall was popular.

by Anonymous

reply 125

03/05/2012

[quote]Lucy wanted the role of Chris McNeil very badly and had several reads with Friedkin, in the end apparantly Lucy's agent wouldn't back down on her fee.

That would have been absolutely hilarious.

Lucy as Chris to Father Devlin in Regan's bedroom:

"WAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"Mrs. McNeil, whats the matter?"

(pointing at Regan's spinning head) "She SCARED me!!!"

by Anonymous

reply 126

03/05/2012

R123, the otherside of the world from Georgetown is in the Indian Ocean. As a matter of fact most of the landmasses of the world are directly opposite an ocean. The only populated areas that are àntipodal`are the southern tip of South America and a small area of Northern China

by Anonymous

reply 127

03/05/2012

Iraqs` antipodal location is in the South Pacific Ocean.

by Anonymous

reply 128

03/05/2012

Blatty is the worst kind of cocksucker

by Anonymous

reply 129

01/26/2013

Jason Miller was fantastic in this role and so sexy, but he looked ten years old than 34, which he was at the time. Max von Sydow was only in his mid-50s and looked (or was made to look) at least 70.

by Anonymous

reply 130

09/19/2014

[quote]Max von Sydow was only in his mid-50s and looked (or was made to look) at least 70.

He was even younger than that--mid-40s. The make-up work on him was great; very close to what he really looks like now that he's actually old.

by Anonymous

reply 131

09/19/2014

I can't watch this anymore after the author's homophobic views and I'm really disappointed by that. I loved this film.

by Anonymous

reply 132

09/19/2014

Blatty once unsuccessfully sued the producers of Columbo, stating they based Peter Falk's character on Detective Lieutenant William Kinderman (played by Lee J. Cobb in the movie).

by Anonymous

reply 133

09/20/2014

Disappointing about Blatty. I wonder he felt it was OK to work with "sinful" Friedkin who produced two of the most notorious movies in the gay film canon (Boys in the Band, Cruising).

by Anonymous

reply 134

09/20/2014

I'm watching it right now. Late at night. Is this a good idea? kinda scary. This is the version where they added a few more scenes(“crab walk” )

Any others similar movies to the exorcist?

by Anonymous

reply 135

04/26/2015

How did it go, r135?

by Anonymous

reply 136

04/26/2015

I just did the "Exorcist steps" in Georgetown during my Sunday run and they are still really tough. Great leg workout. And it's still always a little creepy.

by Anonymous

reply 137

04/26/2015

I can't believe they left "crab walk" out of the original cut. It is...iconic.

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